Oct. 3, 2013

Written by

Shelley DuBois

The Tennessean

Franklin-based Healthways received a $20 million investment from one of its customers, CareFirst, a Baltimore-based licensee of BlueCross BlueShield.

The investment is meant to strengthen the partnership between the two organizations that have been working together for the past seven years, said Healthways spokesman Chip Wochomurka.

Healthways provides services for CareFirst’s Patient Centered Medical Home Program, which the Baltimore-based company aims to ramp up going forward.

“Healthways already plays an integral role in the delivery of our PCMH program, which is at the heart of our efforts to improve health care quality for our members while slowing cost increases,” CareFirst’s president and CEO Chet Burrell said in a press release.

Many health care companies are forming or solidifying partnerships to brace for uncertainty in the industry. Healthways has relationships with organizations all over the country. “This is another example of working with a leading firm,” Wochomurka said.

The $20 million partnership with CareFirst is in the form of a convertible note – meaning it works like debt now, but can eventually convert to equity.

Healthways has offices in the U.S., Australia, Germany and Brazil. The company has a market cap of about $600 million. Its stock has increased from almost $11 per-share to between $18 and $19 per-share, year-to-date.